Monday, 7 August 2017

Resignation from Sorapol December 2016

In December 2016 I stepped down as Creative Director at fashion brand Sorapol, a job that I loved but could not continue due to my own personal works getting recognition and becoming a full time project. From today onwards I have no affiliations with the fashion label. I wish Sorapol well for the future. Working with him was a lot of fun and extraordinary. We were two friends that had a dream to start something different. I was fed up with nightlife and my friend Sorapol was fed up with his school, CSM as he wasn't learning what he wanted. We decided to launch the brand a few months later on a shoe string budget at St George's Church on Hanover Square and invite everyone I had met through modeling, working at vogue and nightlife. Our first show had about 1000 people and second show over 2000 people turned up, only half could get in and there were furious people lining up the Old Vic Tunnels burning invites. I learned a lot about myself through the nearly 6 years of working in the brand and met an array of interesting fashion characters along the way. For me dressing the celebrities was so much fun. I was fascinated after gifting Boy George and Kylie Minogue scarves both wearing them out being papped in them on the night. Nicki Minaj was our first client and Mariah Carey being my last, after dressing her to go up the Thames River in a white jacket to her show. She ordered two more and i delivered them to her in Paris, this was when I decided to leave the brand. I had a special moments dressing friends Cara Delevingne & Azealia Banks in twin mermaid looks waddling through the London Aquarium and fitting Paloma Faith & Rita Ora for fabulous dresses which many talked about. Dressing the fashion scene in the AB Fab film was a dream. Even though I didn't get the credit. Spending time with up and coming artists was quite amazing, I was in charge of dressing them and some became super stars like Charli XCX. Another fond moment I had was dressing my friend Steve Strange for what would have been his last album cover. I was always full of bold ideas. More always being more. Being the first to surgically sew a dress into the human skin of Kate Middletons cousin Katrina Darling was one of those spontaneous original moments I was shocked the press didn't pick up on it. Another show I was frustrated with the fashion world's discrimination of black models after hearing a stylist comment at a casting and decided to only have black girls in our show. The shows, fashion films and campaigns were so much fun, our favorite Supermodels came out of retirement for us and we had celebrities wanting to be in all of our star studded shows setting trends with the venues we used like The Serpentine Gallery, 33 Portland Place, a then very dirty carpark in Soho and The Royal College or Surgeons. I loved sporting the clothes not how they should have been worn, making hats for every show and commissions for Edward Enninful's Tim Walker or Steven Klein shoots. I was most flattered that someone decided to make a copy of our Elephant mask that we had made for the Princes Trust Animal Ball and send it down their runway in NYC. We made a beautiful fashion films, one with the voice of Stephen Fry and shot our campagnes in whimsical backdrops like Hilles House and in a prostitutes graveyard. My highlights were the behind the scenes world of Haute Couture in Paris which opened up to me, I am obsessed with embroidery and learned the craft however I am useless on the sewing machine. Seeing our couture sold in the most prestigious stores in Paris was a dream...oh and the fabulous party Vogue threw for us the night of our first show in Paris. I learned that it takes a lot to become a designer. More than most people could ever begin to imagine. Fashion is not the world I want to be in for now but I will continue to collaborate with brands in the near future. And no I am not going to open my own brand any time soon! Art is where I am staying and couture is what I doss around the house in. It all felt like a surreal dream, a dream of creative madness, often with tantrums and flying tiaras. I want to thank those who supported me through those years. You kept me inspired with your love.